Tuesday 16 October 2007 10.05 EDT
First published on Tuesday 16 October 2007 10.05 EDT

With an ear-splitting burst of digital music, flashing graphics and a rapid-fire succession of Wall Street images, Rupert Murdoch's new business channel hit American televisions at 5am yesterday with a mission to take financial news to the masses.

At a cost of $200m (£98m), the Fox Business Network is an attempt by Mr Murdoch's News Corporation to wrest supremacy in television business coverage from the market leader, CNBC, which attracts some 58 million viewers a month worldwide.

Fox's first schedule included interviews with Sir Richard Branson, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney and the World Trade Centre owner Larry Silverstein. But even before the channel's "money for breakfast" morning show had begun, there were sparks flying over the placement of advertising - and about Mr Murdoch's media muscle.

It emerged that a pre-arranged blitz of CNBC advertisements, which were due to run yesterday, were dropped from the websites of the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones - which recently agreed to a takeover by Mr Murdoch.

A CNBC spokeswoman told the New York Times: "We have had a 10-year relationship of the highest quality with Dow Jones. As a result, this incident leaves us both surprised and disappointed."

There was no explanation from Dow Jones. A spokesman said: "We retain the right to adjust the precise placement and timing of online advertisements, including to accommodate links from other websites."

To date, CNBC and its smaller rival, Bloomberg Television, have cornered a market worth an estimated $2bn in advertising on business news networks. Enthusiasts, including Mr Murdoch, have suggested that financial news has potential to keep its premium value in an era where general news faces increasing competition from cyberspace.

Yesterday's spat is typical of a series of clashes between CNBC and Fox Business, which have made no secret of their desire to annihilate one another. For its opening day, Fox Business cheekily placed a reporter in the New Jersey suburban enclave of Englewood Cliffs, where CNBC is based, to admire the "peacocks" - a reference to CNBC's colourful logo - and to make caustic comments about the distance from New York city centre.

The channels have been sniping about alleged spoilers. CNBC recently began a segment set in a bar called "happy hour" which happens to be the name of a planned nightly programme on Fox Business. Faced with the prospect of fresh competition, CNBC has begun to emphasise its established leadership with the slogan "America's business channel".

For all the aggression, the rivals have subtle differences in their targeted audiences. CNBC is popular among business professionals for its instant analysis of unfolding stock market events. Mr Murdoch has made it clear that he wants Fox Business to be more "main street" than merely "Wall Street" with an emphasis on lifestyle items and personal finance.

Michael Nathanson, a media analyst at stockbroker Sanford Bernstein in New York, said CNBC is highly profitable to its parent, General Electric, with earnings of some $250m annually. He suggested that there is scope for Fox to expand the market. "What made the original Fox News successful wasn't that it took share from CNN - it actually added an extra layer of viewers," he said, pointing out that magazines such as Money and Forbes have an audience far beyond Wall Street aficionados.

"A lot of the weekly and monthly business magazines are not particularly appealing to financial professionals yet they have huge circulations," said Mr Nathanson. "There's a chance to broaden out the audience."

Although it is silent on its international plans, News Corporation is widely expected to turn Fox Business into a global network if its US launch is well received. Along similar lines to CNBC, it could launch a European and an Asian service.

Viewing figures for financial news are difficult to determine as programming is often on all day in offices. But CNBC says it reaches 46.5m people in the US, some 6m in Europe and 5.5m in Asia.

CNBC's European chief, Mick Buckley, suggested that the summer's credit meltdown which culminated in a run on Northern Rock was a reminder of the influence of business events: "I think events like the credit crunch make people realise how business does directly impact their lives."

In spite of the tensions this week, he put a bullish spin on Fox's arrival: "I would not use the word worried. We are respectful and excited about having a new competitor."